Higher levels of Cardiovascular exercise among middle school children has recently been shown to improve math and reading scores according to a recent study presented at the at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention.

The co-author Trent A. Petrie, PhD reports that "Cardiorespiratory fitness was the only factor that we consistently found to have an impact on both boys' and girls' grades on reading and math tests,"

This type of study highlights additional benefits of regular exercise in an era where time spent in front of the TV and video games is rising and many schools are reducing opportunities for exercise by cutting back on physical education classes in order to spend more time in the classroom preparing for standardized testing.